The Control Room on The Gift Source: The Gift
The Gift is a new reality series filmed in the luxurious Azuridge Estate in Priddis, Alberta, and features 12 up-and-coming creatively gifted contestants, all vying for a $100,000 gift, from matron of the arts Therese “Tag” Goulet, AKA The Sugar Mama. Tag has provided funding for hundreds of creators worldwide, like indie filmmakers, visual artists and musicians.
An Indigenous person, she quotes Métis leader, Louis Riel, “My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back.” She says, “After overcoming hardship, I absolutely love working with the next generations of Creatives who have helped me regain my spirit.”
The series stars Tag of course, and she is joined alongside Dr. Lolly de Jonge, who works as the creative facilitator. She has over three decades of community leadership, and is a well-recognized Indigenous person in Canada.
“The Sugar Mama series was an intentional act of reconciliation which included Teachers in Residence and Elders in Residence. Our team reimagined how unscripted series are produced by applying Indigenous ways of knowing and doing. We chose to place healing and love at the center of our work.” Dr. Lolly said in a press release.
The Gift also features a 50% 2SLGBTQ+ cast.
We spoke with Dr. Lolly and Tag about the show, and asked about how Tag would describe the show.
We also asked Lolly about how Indigenous values are incorporated.
Tag tells us one piece of advice for creatives, right from the Sugar Mama.
Screenings are going down next week, and tickets can be found for the Edmonton showing here, and the Calgary showing here.
Benjamin, thank you so much for the excellent interview and for sharing this information.